Ads Revolutionize Area Tourism

Cooperative Effort Boosts Attractions

January 25, 1996|By BOBBIE HARVILLE Daily Press

WILLIAMSBURG — A cooperative advertising campaign launched last year by five Williamsburg-area attractions generated $43.9 million, including $2.7 million in state and local taxes, according to the Williamsburg Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, Jamestown Settlement, Water Country USA and Yorktown Victory Center teamed up with the visitors bureau and the Williamsburg Hotel/Motel Association for the venture. Newspaper ads and a 30-minute infomercial touted the "Revolutionary Fun" package - five days of unlimited admission to the five attractions plus lodging for one price.

The tourism organizations invested $2 million, and $1 million came from the Virginia Cooperative Advertising Fund, which provides money to promote tourism. Of that $3 million, $1.4 million was spent in 1995, and the balance is earmarked for a spring and fall campaign.

Tourism representatives are hoping the General Assembly will approve Gov. George Allen's proposal to increase the state's ad fund. Local tourism partners are willing to increase their contribution for a future campaign, says David Schulte.

"We figured that we could do a better job of bringing more tourists to town by working together and not separately," he says.

The campaign generated about $43.9 million in economic impact throughout the state from the vacation packages and from people who came to visit because they saw the ads, according to a study by Wessex Group, a Williamsburg-based research firm.

"We don't feel like we hit a home run. We feel like we hit a grand slam," Schulte says.

For every dollar invested in the campaign, $22 in economic impact was generated in the Williamsburg area and $9 elsewhere in the state, according to the study.

The campaign was launched in late March with a two-page ad in major Northeast newspapers. A 30-minute infomercial was broadcast during April, May and June on nationwide cable networks and local television stations in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.

The ads generated more than 100,000 inquiries, the sale of about 9,000 vacation packages and visits from more than 37,000 tourists who were influenced by the campaign.